- E. [2] Gurgistan, Usually Called Georgia.

- E.

[3] This manufacture from Mosul or Moxul, on the Tigris, must be carefully distinguished from the muslins of India, which need not be described. - E

[4] These buckrams seem to have been some coarse species of cotton cloth, in ordinary wear among the eastern nations. The word occurs frequently, in these early travels in Tartary, but its proper meaning is unknown - E.

[5] This word is inexplicable, unless by supposing it some corruption of Syra Horda, the golden court or imperial residence, which was usually in Tangut or Mongalia, on the Orchen or Onguin. But in the days of Marco, the khans had betaken themselves to the luxurious ease of fixed residences and he might have misunderstood the information he received of the residence of Mangu. - E.

[6] Marco Polo is no more answerable for the truth of this ridiculous legend of the 13th century, than the archbishop of Paris of the 19th is for many, equally absurd, that are narrated in the French national Catechism. Both were good catholics, and rehearsed what they had heard, and what neither of them pretended to have seen. - E.

SECTION III

Of the Country of Persia, the Cities of Jasdi, Cermam and Camandu, and the Province of Reobarle.

Tauris is a great city in the province of Hircania[1], and is a very populous place. The inhabitants live by the exercise of manufacture and trade, fabricating, especially, stuffs of silk and gold. The foreign merchants who reside there make very great gains, but the inhabitants are generally poor.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 448 of 810
Words from 122534 to 122795 of 222093